Southampton Take Two

I just couldn't resist it. I am not a Saints fan IRL but love playing them in FM. Some of you will have read this thread I started and you will notice I lost my save.

So I am starting again.

Leagues Loaded

England - Down to Level 8.

Germany - Down to level 5.

Spain - Down to level 3.

Goals

- Obtain promotion to the Premier League.

- Win the Premier League

- Win the FA Cup

- Win the Carling Cup

- Win the Europa League

- Win the Champions League

- Build a legacy with a conveyor belt of young talent coming through

Southampton start with a brilliant set of facilities - State of the Art for Youth Facilities for example. So my plan will be to start with 16-18 professionals of a high standard with the rest made up of hot prospects and quality youngsters. I will also make extensive use of my scouts and use that knowledge to my advantage.

Transfers In

Yaya Sanogo - A snip at £2.9m. One for the future but one I fully expect to play his part this season. Rated 5* PA by my scouts.

Lenny Nangis - As above, rated 4.5* PA though only cost £2m

Adrian Aldrete - Mexican left back. His agent offered him to me and I accepted. Early signs are that he will be in the team of the year such is his brilliance.

Alberto Medina - Mexican winger. I had him on my previous Southampton game and he was awesome. He still is!

Victor Simoes - A scout found him and an absolute steal at £230,000. Arguably one of the best bargains I have ever found.

Arjan Swinkels - Dutch centre half whom my scout said would be cheap and damned good. He was right.

Felipe Anderson - Signed on loan from Santos, he has 5* PA so if he works out, I hope to make it permanent. Needed an appeal for a work permit though.

Kieran Gibbs - Yes, you read that right. Signed on loan from Arsenal, the England international was made available for loan by the Gunners and he came to me.

Francis Coquelin - 3* CA, 5* PA, signed on loan from Arsenal.

Emmanuel Frimpong - As above.

Vladislav Stoyanov - Found by a scout, this 24 year old Bulgarian goalkeeper cost me just £525,000 and is easily better than Kelvin Davis.

Marco Materazzi - Offered for free by his agent, he is on less than £2,000 per week and I signed him for his experience and to bolster my defence. Squad player.

Nicos Dabizas - Same as above - on minimal wages so is no risk.

Far too many left the club to mention but I had a big clearout, the highest profile being Rickie Lambert.

Tactics

I plan on playing my favourable 4-5-1 formation with a DM.

Stoyanov

Parnaby - Jose Fonte - Swinkels - Gibbs/Aldrete

Coquelin/Frimpong

Cork - Felipe Anderson

Lallana - Medina

Victor Simoes

I plan on using Sanogo and Nangis as power subs to start with.

I asked the board to increase Junior Budget spending and they agreed so that is now at an Excellent level. Good start!

Updates will be Mid Season, End of Season and Pre Season.

Excellent getting Sanogo for relatively little.

Sanogo is pure class. Looking forward to this.

Good luck dude

Good luck... again

You've signed some quality, so I'm expecting promotion in the first season.

Excellent getting Sanogo for relatively little.

Indeed - absolute steal!

Sanogo is pure class. Looking forward to this.

Interesting start to his career with us. couple of injuries plus the form of Victor Simoes has made him be benched for more than I was expecting but he is still class.

Good luck dude

Thanks

Good luck... again

You've signed some quality, so I'm expecting promotion in the first season.

Me too. Especially as I romped home in the other save.

Well, what a terrific first 6 months in charge. At the halfway mark we are top, three points clear of Middlesbrough. Though it is not all plain sailing.

League

As I said, we are top and three points clear. But it hasn't all been plain sailing. Home form is fantastic but away form leaves me with some concern. We have won only 5 of the 13 games, losing and drawing from winning positions and against opponents we should be murdering. We have also shipped 26 goals in 24 games - not very good. With the exception of Arjan Swinkels my entire defence has not been at its best. They all average under 7.00 as a match rating (except Swinkels). I need to strengthen if I can.

League Cup

Excellent. I am into the semi finals and will face Aston Villa. I have knocked out Premier League Newcastle, Wigan and Bolton.

FA Cup

Drawn against Premier League Swansea in the 3rd Round.

Players

Several players have been brilliant:

Adam Lallanna - 17 starts, 3 more as a sub, 6 goals. 7.65 average rating

Victor Simoes - 20 starts, 2 more as a sub, 14 goals. 7.44 average rating

Yaya Sanogo - 8 starts, 4 more as a sub, 7 goals. 7.46 average rating

Arjan Swinkels - 23 starts, 0 more as a sub, 6 goals. 7.38 average rating (SIX goals from central defence! The man is a beast and cost me just £400,000 (I love my scouts))

I have arranged the sale of Lenny Nangis to Manchester City for £5m plus 50% of any future sale. Just too good an offer for a kid where a lot id expected but hasn't delivered.

Quality signings there! Good luck with the rest of the season.

Just one tip, get yersen a back-up file for the game

Great seasons so far!

Just a mini update to show how I was knocked out of the FA Cup - truly mental. Look at the screenshot and all will be clear.

Crazy shootout, don't recall having one go for that long myself.

Nice start to the season aswell.

Had to wait a while.

My youth candidates have arrived and it looks like I have been quite lucky:

The best one, Ryan Herd, looks terrific:

I haven't ever seen a penalty shoot out last that long, if that was me. I'd have just walked out the room when they scored the winner, must be peeved about it, surely?

That penalty shootout is crazy! I think to longest I've ever had was 7 or 8... yours...a marathon!

I haven't ever seen a penalty shoot out last that long, if that was me. I'd have just walked out the room when they scored the winner, must be peeved about it, surely?

That is an understatement. My keyboard nearly went out the window.

That is an understatement. My keyboard nearly went out the window.

You didn't, by any chance, film yourself did you?

League Table

As you can see, we won the league comfortbaly in the end. A sticky patch over the festive period saw us lose 3 on the spin and our seven point gap was whittled away to nothing. A team meeting restored us to our winning ways, however.

F. A. Cup

Eliminated by Burnley in a replay in the 4th round. I knocked out Premier League Swansea in round 3. See the screenshot further up for the heartbreaking manner of our loss.

League Cup

Drew 0-0 with Aston Villa in the home leg of the semi final before this happened. Heartbreaking. Again. I hate Darren Bent!

Players

Adam Lallana is our player of the season. Over 20 goals from a winger? Sublime.

Tadeusz Socha is my Bargain of the Season. I signed him to bolster the defence in January and expected him to be a squad player. He made his debut in late January and never left the side (except for suspensions). His wage is a mere £800 and his transfer fee? £9,000. Absolute steal.

I must also give a special mention to Victor Simoes, who had a storming season with 23 goals up front. He cost a mere £230,000. Needless to say, in finding Tadeusz Socha and Victor Simoes, my scouts earned their crust this season.

Yaya Sanogo had a good start to life in England. He is coming along nicely.

In keeping in line with my goal of having the best young talent, I have agreed a deal to bring Curtis Smith to the club from Leeds for £1.5m. He has 4.5* PA and my scouts claim he will be a leading Premier League striker in the future.

A quality season! Championship winners and League Cup Semi-Finalists, that doesn't come along to often. Hat off to ya!

Good luck next season

Nicely done, pity about the relegation zone.

Board Expectations: Avoid Relegation.

Title Odds: 2000-1

F.A. Cup Expectations: 5th Round

League Cup Expectations: 4th Round

My Expectations: Safe Mid Table

F.A. Cup Expectations: 5th Round

League Cup Expectations: 4th Round

Much to my chargrin, Victor Simoes got annoyed when I turned down a bid from Everton so I was forced to sell him to maintain squad harmony. My annoyance was short lived however, as my signing of the window arrived for a bank breaking £18m (over 48 months):

i managed to clear out a lot of the deadwood I inherited last season who wouldn't leave at that time so my squad is a lot thinner but has more quality about it.

Unfortunately, two of my first three games are against Arsenal and Manchester United so I just hope my squad morale isn't damaged too much early on!

Definitely testng you early.

Great promotion season

Safe mid table will be a good effort if you get there, be interesting to see how you're £18m man gets on.

£18m is a lot of money to spend on someone. I wouldn't have the nerve personally, but we shall see if he can provide!

Can't remember last time I spent £18m on a player, hope he pays off for you. Hope you can avoid the drop

You know when you get those games where your entire side just click? Everything turns to gold?

But we are still very fallible against the best:

Well, Spurs anyway.

Well, Spurs anyway.

Being beaten by the mighty Spurs is nothing to be ashamed of

Spurs, yeah can't fault that.

League

Unbelieveable first half to the season. I am currently sixth and having a blast. Some big wins (see 6-0 win at Goodison Park further up the thread) but some big losses too (Spurs). Of the five clubs above me, I have played them all and lost the lot. So clearly not ready for the next level. As a result, I would expect my league position to fall after Christmas. My squad is small and is already stretched.

League Cup

Excellent. I am into the semi finals and will face Aston Villa again. Hoping for revenge. My best performance:

FA Cup

Drawn against Premier League Fulham in the 3rd Round.

Players

Several players have been brilliant:

Papiss Cisse - My £18m man. Awesome and worth every penny. 17 starts, 1 more as a sub returning 15 goals. Average rating of 7.62. I now have Bayern Munich sniffing around him though.

Emil Larsen - An absolute revelation. I signed him in January in my promotion year and he was ok last season. This year though: 16 starts, 11 goals. 7.46 average rating.

Daley Blind - Utility player who can play in midfield or anywhere across the back four. Signed for this reason for a bargain £1m from Ajax. 8 starts, 1 more as a sub. Average rating 7.28

Yaya Sanogo - I wouldn't normally include him here but I know a lot of people ask about him. 4 starts, 8 more as a sub, 7 goals. 7.28 average rating. He is fast becoming injury prone however.

Updated to add - Chelsea and Spurs also want Cisse now

Great start to the season. Might be worth offering Cisse a new improved contract. Keep the big clubs away

Great start to the season. Might be worth offering Cisse a new improved contract. Keep the big clubs away

Good idea and hadn't thought of it - but he refused to even open talks. I have set his asking price at the same as his buy out clause (£36m).

Looks like that £18m has paid off, at least if you do sell him you should be looking at big, big money.

Remember that lad I signed from Leeds, Curtis Smith? Well, with Sanogo injured (again) and Cisse knackered after 3 games in 6 days, I threw him into the starting XI against Fulham in the Cup. Way before he is ready, or so I thought:

Making really good progress with Soton! Lets see if you can get a run in the FA Cup after the win against Fulham!

Great impact from Smith.

Excellent job getting promoted at the first attempt. Looking good for mid-table this season too

£18m on one player is a big risk, but luckily, it looks like its going to pay off for you.

Making really good progress with Soton! Lets see if you can get a run in the FA Cup after the win against Fulham!

That was my hope. But I got another bum draw and lost 2-1 away to Everton in Round Four. Which is an even bigger bugger as I was 1-0 up at half time. The same Everton I beat 6-0 at Goodison Park earlier in the season. That is 8 draws running across both cups I have drawn Premier League teams.

Great impact from Smith.

Yes I have very high hopes for him. He is now on loan at Colchester for the rest of the season for some regular game time.

Excellent job getting promoted at the first attempt. Looking good for mid-table this season too

£18m on one player is a big risk, but luckily, it looks like its going to pay off for you.

Thanks mate. Season looking good. In the final of the League Cup but have Man Utd. Who just beat me 3-0 in the league. With me not getting a single shot.

I sold Yaya Sanogo to Middlesbrough for £2.1m with a hefty sell on. He was injured a LOT. His stats had started to regress as a result.

I would rather pour acid in my eyes and sleep with Janet Street Porter than accept this:

Wise choice.